that's right for you. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. we're following two big stories right now. we have live pictures from one location. capitol hill where right now there's heated partisan back and forth over the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. while acknowledging a thorough investigation is needed, house democrats accuse republicans of leaving them out of the investigation leading up to the committee hearing and playing politics. >> although the chairman claims we are pursuing this investigation on a, quote, bipartisan basis, that's simply not been the case. the chairman has withheld documents provided to the committee which is in violation of the house rules. it's a shame they're resorting

to such petty abuses in what should be a serious and responsible investigation of this fatal attack. >> and -- >> we know that the tragedy in mbenbenghazi ended as it did. we now know that, in fact, it was caused by a terrorist attack that was reasonably predictable to eventually happen somewhere in the world, especially on september 11th. requests of extensions of more security by the mission in libya, however, appear to have been reject ed. president obama gives his first major interview since his debate performance that helped mitt romney close the spread in several battleground states. the president called in to the tom joiner radio show vowing, quote, more activity next time around and offering up a candid assessment of what he thinks went wrong. >> the debate, i think, it's fair to say i was just too

poli polite. because, you know, it's hard to sometimes just keep saying what you're saying. it gets repeptive. >> another interview getting attention this hour. if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen or the sand box as ann romney is saying. in an interview of her own, she reacts to the president and supporters accusing her president of lying in last week's performance of last week's debate. >> it is sort of like someone, you know, in the sand box that lost the game and just going to kick sand in someone's face and say you liar. it is like they lost. and so now they say, we didn't like the game. and tomorrow night's vp debate is expected to be no child's play in any sandbox. joe biden and paul ryan scheduled to arrive in kentucky tonight with ryan's team expected to do a walk-through of the venue within this hour. joining me now, michael smir

connish, louise romano and steve, i've got to first start before we talk about the latest comment, president and ann romney, another change from governor romney. he was in des moines, your home state, and in an interview with "the des moines register" he said there's no legislation with regards to abortion that's familiar with that he would allow to become a part of his agenda. that is a big surprise to conservatives as i understand it because that is completely different than what he said in the primary and within a short period of time andrea salt his spokesperson came out and contradicted mitt romney saying that, in fact, he would support legislation, that mitt romney's pro-life and would be pro-life president. what is going on in your conservative head right now? >> well, tamron, running out of

fingers and toes to count the different positions on the saktty of life mitt romney has taken in the political career, he's essentially -- might be the only politician alive in america today who has taken every conceivable position on what has been really, if you look at the american political fault line, roe versus wade is why we have the fault lines we do today. it turns the republicans in to a party to compete for catholic votes for the first time, mobilized evangelicals, went to a fund raise for democrats around the country that we still see to this very day. it is a defining issue in the mind of a lot of american voters and people in this country need and deserve to know what a potential chief expect i really thinks about when's been the defining moral debate in this country for the last 40 years. >> let's bring in michael. i want to play what sam stein said on "morning joe" regarding the issue of politicians moving

to the cent or in the case of mitt romney moderate or massachusetts mitt. sam stein i think takes it to the next logical line of questioning. let me play what sam said. >> i don't get what we're supposed to choose. yes. strategic possibly but also deceiving. >> ann romney in the interview basically said people accusing her husband of lying, playing bad sportsmanship. when does it become deceiving as opposed to being politically smart move? >> well, let's look at the data we know about this. cnn and orc released a poll this morning saying it's a four-point race in ohio but among women a 22-point gap that president obama's lead over governor romney is 22 points among females. he's got issues. i think this is the response and, tamron, it ties in to something you discussed yesterday which was that politico piece which said that

post-conventions, there's a revolt within the romney campaign led by ann romney and eldest son tag and said you have to be more moderate and let the public evaluate you in that context. the specific answer to your question is that among the hardened base of the gop and maybe steve is the exception i think such is the desire to get rid of president obama, that they're willing to overlook this now where they wouldn't have in the primary process. >> louise, let's bring you in on this. i want to play an excerpt of the first interview of the president, a major one, anyway, tom joiner talking about what wept wrong and too polite and here's what else he said. >> governor romney kept on making mistakes month after month so it made it look artificially like this was -- might end up being a cake walk but we understood internally that it never would be. >> just to paraphrase a bit, the president explaining the new strategy is go for the jugular.

it's an interesting dynamic because even before, for example, this vice presidential debate in 24 hours, you have congressman ryan and ann romney asserting that if the word "lie" is used this is just an excuse by democrats here. but again, the president still mired in explaining the mystery behind his first debate performance, louise. >> well, let's see. how many excuses have they had so far? you know, the first excuse was, well, mitt won on style. the president did what he needed to do. the second was mitt lied. the third was the president was prepared for the different mitt. well, you know, he should have been able to pivot. he's the president. right? i don't really know, you know, what really happened but i just know that the debate is like the gift that just keeps giving and it's not served -- it's just not served the president very well. you know, let me go to ann romney really quickly. >> sure. >> i'm not sure ann romney is being used in the best possible

way. i mean, she is on the front lines fighting these fights for the campaign, fighting the fight for mitt. kind of lashing out. and she's, you know, her ratings are good but she'll end up altering that if she gets out there. i mean, she gets a little testy sometimes, snaps at reporters in interviews and not sure she should be getting that defensive. that's for other people to do. she should be above the fray. >> i would love to interrue her, but with all due respect, she might say i know what i'm doing because after the alleged rebellion with tag and politico.com reported on her husband has at least seen some improvement in the numbers so while, you know, we read the articles, we are journalists and pundits or whatever the case may be, she perhaps believes she knows better for her husband and why she's chosen to be the attack dog and i don't like

using that word in reference to any woman but she is going out attacking. >> clearly she feels that way. i learned the other day that she was the first wife of a presidential candidate to ever appear on "meet the press" which i was fascinated with. i don't know how that came about. if she insisted on it or she did or the campaign did. but i think that's really interesting that they feel that she's that effective whereas with michele obama, you know, she is doing stuff mostly off the radar. she's exciting the base. she's going out there but, you know, she is not giving any interviews compared to ann romney. >> i was going to play the bill clinton sound but, in fact, lois the first lady has given an interview and she did with i-village regarding the debate and the quote off night. you have not heard this. let me play the new sound of michele obama. i'm going to read it. it say there is's sort of a scrum and the punditry an enthe

analysis and then there's the passion that we see every single day and basically went to say her husband is out there fighting. acknowledging the quote/unquote off night and he is in the fight. not the same tone if you will as ann romney but commenting on the debate and what we are all watching loi out. >> right. i shouldn't have said she's not giving interviews but not as many as ann and ann romney and certainly not taking -- i don't think she's taking the fight to romney whereas, you know, ann romney is taking the fight to obama but they obviously feel like that's very effective and they said repeatedly that she helps the candidate. ann romney helps him and when she is with him. maybe that's the calculus. >> right. i want to play sound of bill clinton last night going in on mitt romney. let me get your response to it. let's play it. >> the problem with this deal is

the deal was made by severe conservative mitt. that was how he described himself for two whole years. until three or four days before the debate they said, hey man, this ship is sinking faster than the "titanic." just show up with a sunny face and say, i didn't say all that stuff i said the last two years. you want to believe me or your lying eyes here. come on. what are you doing? >> so the question was, you got to believe me or you're lying eyes. which is it, steve? is it believing mitt romney or are their lying eyes peering at you as a conservative? >> i would say a couple of things. looking at president clinton's second term, from balanced budgets to a defensive marriage act, balanced welfare, probably among the most conservative presidents since calvin cooli e coolidge. i want defer to him and certainly given the fact he was

impeached i would defer to president clinton on who's being dishonest or not. he's clearly more of a subject. >> i got the backhanded compliment. you sucker punch the guy but that's not my question. the question is, the essence of what he's saying today, not 12 years ago, not before the game, the game today, as he has described bill clinton describing mitt romney yesterday, what is your take on the man i'm assuming romney you the conservative will vote for and i say assume because i don't know where you go on this. you have stated that you despise mitt romney even though you're a conservative. >> well, i would -- you know, i want to go back to something my peer on the panel here, politico, they have an article quoting the pro-life leaders quoting romney saying he's given promises to do things on the issue. if that's true and what they're saying to politico is true, i hate to say this but the democratic attacks on romney for being dishonest is also true.

one can't be true and one false. if romney gave the promises and now not going to do it, i hate to say it, but the democrat attacks on romney on this particular issue and on his voracity is true. >> is that the strategy for vice president biden tomorrow and next week with president obama and governor romney? is that the strategy? you have steve agreeing essentially again with bill clinton and took the swipe at him prior to that. >> i think it's a maistake if i is the strategy. i thought president clinton's strong suit at the democratic national convention is defending the obama record, not so much going after mitt romney. the attack i heard of president clinton, frankly, was infective in primary season and i think it's ineffective now. it might be fact based but i don't think it's the most effective pitch. bill clinton talking about arithmetic and the mechanics of

obama's watch, that's him bringing the a-game. >> do you agree, lois? you can look at facebook and twitter and take it to a point but the visceral reaction of voters of the debate and the next two with the president, seems, yes, they want facts and figures but a little of that bill clinton twang or smackdown to come along with it. >> well, they want him to defend himself. i mean, he went mute. but i do agree to a certain point that people want to see the ball moving forward. you know? they don't want to particularly hear all the attacks, particularly turns off the independents and swing voters. they want to know how we're going to move forward and why i think mitt romney was particularly effective saying i'm going to do this, this, this and this. there weren't a lot of things he said he would do and said it

forcefully. he said -- seemed like he was in control whereas president obama just didn't seem, you know, that he was responding -- i mean he doesn't offensive or defensive. i'll put it that way. >> thank you very much. i greatly appreciate you coming on. a lot of moving parts and breaking news. i appreciate your time. tomorrow, "news nation" from kentucky, the site of tomorrow night's vp debate. up next, more on the breaking news of capitol hill and the hearing taking place regarding the deaddy attacks in libya. the committee accused the chairman of leaving them out of the investigation and the hearing going on. they say republicans are playing politics. >> the chairman withheld documents that were provided to the committee. plus, more breaking news. another voter i.d. law temporarily blocked before the election. details on a judge's decision in south carolina today. and join our conversation on

twitter. you can find us. tell us what you think the pressure vice president biden and congressman ryan are under 24 hours before the debate. on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in.

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no one in the administration has claimed to no all the answers. we have always made clear that we are giving the best information we have at the time. and that information has evolved. for example, if any administration official including any career official were on television on sunday, september 16th, they would have said what ambassador rice said. >> white house press secretary jay carney moments ago

responding to the hearing held right now by the republican-controlled house oversight committee on what it calls the security failures of benghazi. democrats acknowledge the need for the investigation and hearing but says it's politically motivated. the former head, recently withdrawn u.s. security team in libya, testified that the state department ignored warnings that more security was needed. >> the security in benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there. the situation remained uncertain and reports of some libyans reported it was getting worse. dip plo mattic security was weak and in april there was only one u.s. diplomatic security agent stationed there. >> joining me now live, nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. a lot of details and what the state department said yesterday. but first why democrats say it's politically motivated and a

necessary hearing and investigation. >> reporter: it's part of the tension that can happen between the two parties on this committee with an important responsibility, to check when government actions take place from other agencies, oversight to try to get to the bottom of some of these things. democrats say they didn't feel that they were given sufficient notice about what was being gathered by the committee in terms of interviews done, a member of the committee traveled to libya but democrats were not included in that. we've seen low-grade quarrelling going on and when everyone steps back they all agree because of the loss of life here, the grave security problem that existed in libya and were there any of these elements that were foreseeable, were the right steps taken, those are serious questions to be dealt with. one of the problems we're seeing unfold at the hearing is stark differences in perceptions and in what the officials are talking about. you heard there from one of the security personnel on the ground

saying they had wanted more help. we have heard from representatives of the state department saying they believed that the level of security presence was appropriate at the time. still a lot of questions, tamron, about the notion of the video being a source of this. now the state department says it never said that was the case. a lot of questions coming from members of the panel about why a period of time of roughly five to seven days elapsed from knowing the crisis was unfolding when it was happening and then getting a more clear picture that it was not a part of some spontaneous protest. there are republicans on the committee saying we just don't understand why there is such confusion. the state department says these were critical events. members on the ground were trying to save themselves in the early hours and then chaos in between and no sense of satisfaction i tnk of either side getting to the bottom of these things and a lot of conversation today that might lead to where new inquiry goes forward and other investigations

under way and holding up this because some of the key materials including video that was taken by the u.s. government at the location is a part of that investigation now. tamron? >> let' play another excerpt. earlier some of the comments made. let's play them. >> the second bombing was an improvised explosive device placed on the north gate breaching the wall. it was a test by terrorists and it was successful. and we didn't respond fully and adequately. we didn't acknowledge it. we didn't talk about it. we pretended it didn't happen. it was a terrorist attack on a u.s. asset in libya. and it was never exposed. we pretended it didn't happen. well guess what. the third time the terrorists came to attack us, they were -- even more successful. killing four americans. >> of course, the congressman referring to two previous bombings at that consulate in benghazi. kelly, i don't know if you have

the answer to this, but it's obviously been brought up. the state department changing the details right before this hearing. do we know if that was to get, i guess, its version out before some of the harsher questions are asked or new information even down 0 the lieutenant colonel saying that security was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout his time in benghazi? >> reporter: there's still a conflict. republicans on the panel asked if the state department had been to libya. the response was no and so there's a conflict about what was the appropriate level at the time? the state department officials say they believe that they were appropriately staffing curt in the country at the time. they also talked about being sort of in realtime conversation with the people who were in the consulate at the time this was all happening. and there were phone calls going back and forth between what was happening on the ground in mbenbenghazi to tripoli and her washington where there were officials who were trying to figure out how to get resources

to them. that raised part of the question, if you will. if they were in that moment by moment contact, again, how did the issue of a spontaneous protest based on a video come up? really haven't gotten an answer to that. certainly, there are concerns of the gravity of the situation. you have people in both parties looking at this with a serious mind but there's also some of the political overtones that are clearly playing out, as well. >> thank you very much. coming up -- >> stand by. >> reverend sharpton and reverend jackson with hundreds of protesters outside the supreme court as the justices hear arguments on university of texas affirmative action plan. plus, the debates down. i'll talk with a "boston globe" writer crediting the bounce of the polls to mitt romney's debate performance. tonight, brown-warren face off in their third debate. bob...

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visit celebrex.com and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. welcome back. a south carolina law requiring photo i.d. at the polls has been blocked for the upcoming election. the law rules it does not discriminate against minorities but too close to election day to try to implement it now. south carolina is the fourth state to have its republican pass voter i.d. law s stopped i court behind texas, wisconsin and pennsylvania. supporters say it's necessary to prevent voter fraud. opponents argue they're designed to suppress the democratic vote after president obama's historic vote in 2008. coming up next, "clueless" actress supports tmitt romney ad

has racial attacks online she says. >> i'm shocked, not angry. saddened and shocked. really shocked. but you know what? you can't expect everyone to agree with you. >> it is just one of the things we thought you should know. plus, when's under more pressure, vice president biden or congressman ryan? nbc deputy political editor will join us to break down the challenges both of the men face in 24 hours. be sure to check out our "news nation" tumblr page. oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula.

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writing he has to defend both his record and mitt romney's and we have seen over the past few weeks ryan's record and budget plan have die verged of mitt romney. vice president biden needs to have a decisive win to stem the loss of enthusiasm and get undecided voters on board and do it facing headlines like this. daily beast. biden's mission impossible, stop obama free fall with ryan debate. the hill wrote high stakes for wild card biden. politico had this one. eat crow and pray for joe. bring in nbc news political news editor and we focused on the headlines of vice president joe biden. let's play what mitt romney said on cnn about his running mate. >> i don't know how paul will deal with this debate. obviously, the vice president has done, i don't know, 15 or 20 debates during his lifetime. experienced debater. i think this is paul's first debate. i may be wrong.

he may have done something in high school. i don't know. >> he may have done something in high school, i don't know. get to know your running mate. they should spend some time together. >> paul ryan may look young but he's been a member of congress for 13 years. >> yes. >> he's been in about eight baebts his campaign tells us. so he's been on the stage but, again, for on a smaller stage for the congressional -- for his congressional district. there's clearly risk in both of -- for both of these candidates. joe biden, obvious i, everyone knows baf prone over the years and expectations for him have been pretty low. you saw the headlines and polling that showed that people think that ryan should win the debate, that might actually help biden. he was a pretty strong debater in 2007-2008 and you might see some of that on stage. the thing he'll have to be careful about is making sure like he said everything he says is completely accurate and that he's not talking down to ryan.

he can have a tendency to seem con da sending and one exchange with ryan in the health care debates, he seemed to sort of be a little dismissive of him. i think you will see him curb that time around. >> you have chuck todd talking about joe biden pretty much won all of the democratic primary debates when he was in the race, that even though there might be quirky headlines, this man is the total package from his likability to his experience with domestic policy as well as, of course, we know foreign policy. >> well, we have seen biden's likability rating take a bit of a hit in the past few months, pull out of pew just out today or yesterday showing him under water and that ryan seeming more likable but i agree he did do -- he showed himself to be very well in those 2007-2008 debates

with the knowledge on foreign policy and the judges. somebody who obama wanted to bring on board because of some of that. paul ryan has risk in this, as welt. the fact is he had some problems with the facts during his convention speech. he's got to make sure he says is completely accurate because people are going to have their ears tuned very closely to that and also how he squares his budget with mitt romney's budget. we already saw some of that talking about abortion and saying there's no difference between him and mitt romney now. >> it's interesting. you say problems with the facts here. already you've got ann romney's latest comments and paul ryan yesterday basically make the assertion that either calling out quote/unquote lies as the president and supporters referred to comments made by ryan during his big speech at the rnc and comments of mitt romney as either unsportsmanlike or in ryan's case, a way to demoralize people because you

have no other default argument here. they're trying to counter this. >> right. >> i think we have been challenged on this, as well. you know this. there's a difference between someone's opinion and whether or not someone says a factory closed when it was not. that is not up for opinion. >> right. well, look. this election is the sky's green collection. we have little leverage it feels like to try to set the record straight as fairly as possible and we try to do and everybody's got their own study. everybody's got their own set of facts this time around and, you know, frustrating for those of us trying to get it as close to the truth as you possibly can. >> we'll see vice president joe biden do at least if some of the situations pop up in the debate that the president says he wished he challenged with mitt romney so we'll see what happens. thank you. >> okay. thanks. more evidence today that president obama's underwhelming

performance may have an affect on candidates down ballot. recent poll out of massachusetts after the debate shows senator brown ahead of challenger warren. that's almost a complete reversal of the numbers a week before the debate. the same poll had warren leading brown 46-44. tonight, the two senate candidates face each other. this is a third debate they have gone at it. reporter noah bearman joins me. we have seen the race go up and down. one of the most watched. you have thousands of people show up for their last debate. how do we know with any certainty that this is a down ballot impact that scott brown is seeing and maybe not the result of the debate they had? >> we don't know for sure and we don't know for sure whether the polls are temporary or signify a larger trend. she's been up in polls before this one. occasionally she's been down and come back up again.

>> yeah. >> but the thing that's sort of interesting about this one is that this is hardly going to be a swing state in the presidential election and many of the polls that had her up had obama winning by very large margins. the bur poll that came out yesterday, two weeks ago had obama winning by 27 points, i think or 28. and then in the same poll had him winning by about 16. and brown has been outperforming romney here. scott brown is outperforming romney and needs to outperform him to win and the fewer ballots he has to split, obviously, the better news for him. >> right. >> and that's why it's a troubling trend at least for warren if it indeed becomes a trend. >> what's been so interesting with the prior debates unlike the first presidential debate, neither of the candidates are backing down. no one's looking down. they're going at it. elizabeth warren pushing scott brown as hard as she possibly

can and even with scott brown going in on personal and seen as personal attacks regarding her heritage, as well. this one's been one for the ages and going at it. >> they really have. and scott brown has more recently shifted toward saying she's not who she says she is because of some lawsuits that she's worked on during her long legal career and she continues to hammer him saying he is not who he says as far as being a moderate and so tonight we get the third debate and, you know, i expect we might get new ground in the debate. the first two had a lot of overlap. tonight's debate will be in springfield instead of boston so we might get a different perspective further out west. >> thank you. we'll see what happens tonight there. thank you. protests outside the supreme court today as the justices take up university of texas affirmative action plan. the court's conservatives already casting doubt on the

program. but first, there's a lot going on today. here's some things we just thought you should know. stacey dash says she is shocked and saddened at the racially charged backlash received after publicly endorsing governor mitt romney. last night, the star of the movie "clueless" defended her decision. >> it's my right as an american citizen. it's my constitutional right to have my choice of who i vote for for president. i chose him not by the color of his skin but the content of his character. >> sandra fluke rushed to defend stacey dash saying, so disappointed to see people attacking stacey dash for voicing her opinion. racist attacks are unacceptable. dash says she got a call from the man she hopes will be the new vice president and says paul ryan personally thanked her for the support. and director steven spielberg is talking about the challenges of bringing abraham lincoln to the big screen.

spielberg says he is deliberately waiting until after the election to release the movie. republican nominee of washington state governor rob mckenna is getting some flack after he and his wife jumped head worth in to a dance-off. check it out. ♪ why is he getting flack? look at him. oh. all right. after that, his wife tweeted, quote, 12-year-old offered me $10 never to do this again. he's so fun. that was one of the things we thought you should know. what 12-year-old wants to see their parents do that dance? [ female announcer ] food, meet flavor.

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affirmative action took center stage at the supreme court. it is the first time the issue argued before the court since 2003. the national action network rallied outside the court this morning voicing support for affirmative action. the case challenges the use of race as a factor in college admissions. it could lead to new limits on affirmative action at universities or eliminate the practice completely. joining me is a professor. first of all, we say we have not seen this in court since 2003. many people didn't think we'd see it now. >> that's right. in 2003, the court rendered a very controversial and stable 5-4 decision saying that affirmative action would be permissive. justice o'connor said it was the case for 25 years and wasn't binding. my judge used to say this is not

25 years and like a biblical 40. like a generation. many of us didn't think we'd revisit this so soon. i think we are because the personnel of the court changed and tilted 0 the right and they want to have at this case. >> before we get to what some of the justices said today, particularly justice kennedy, at the heart of this is a white student at the university of texas. they have a policy in the top 10% of the class you're accepted to their university and she and perhaps others believe their entry in to the university's affected by this procedure. >> that's right. but to be clear, tamron, the top 10% filled the three quarters of the case. she is not in the top 10% of the class and what's at issue is remainder of the class allows the university to use race as a plus factor. not as a quo that but a plus factor. she believes she would have gotten in but for that analysis and therefore that's why she's bringing the suit. >> justice kennedy's comments

stood out to you. why? >> well, he's never upheld affirmative action program so on the one hand, you know, that makes him very questionable as a vote for the university of texas affirmative action program. on the other hand, he's upheld -- he's sometimes saying a conceivable program and hasn't found it yet so all eyes are directed toward him as a swing vote in this case. >> let's play what the university of texas president bill powers said outside of the court after arguments today. let's play it. >> we believe the educational benefit of diversity are so important that they're worth fighting for all the way to the united states supreme court. our lawyers this morning effectively made the case to the justices that diversity, ethnic and otherwise, benefits all of the students on our campus. >> bill, has that not been proven in workplaces? >> absolutely. a business case for diversity

spread like wildfire. mckenzie and other consulting firms shows that it helps the bottom lean for corporations and actually corporations and military and other organizations said, do not dry up the pipeline to the universities so they're actually in great support of race-based affirmative action. >> all right. thank you so much. we greatly appreciate your time. we'll see what happens as this moving forward. thank you so much. >> thanks so much. the death of a nfl star and actor tops the look at stories around the news nation today. alex karras, a former detroit lions defensive tackle later became a tv and film star passed away today. movies included "paper lion," "blazing saddles." tv fans remember him as webster's dad in the '80s sitcom. he was 77 years old. the u.s. anti-doping agency is speaking out about the investigation of lance

armstrong. members call it, quote, the most sophisticated professional and successful doping program cycling has ever seen. 11 of armstrong's team members gave evidence against him. he's been banned for life, stripped of seven titles, also. another major toyota recall. the carmaker said they're pulling 7.4 million vehicles from around the world. the flaw affects more than a dozen models made between 2005 and 2010. next in today's news nation gut check, who do you think is under the most pressure of tomorrow's debate? we'll tell you how to weigh in and join the news nation on the facebook page. i understand it's pretty popu r popular. i understand. i'm kidding. i go on it. facebook.com/newsnation. i have never encountered such a burning sensation...

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nation on twitter. our twitter page,@news nation. tomorrow's the second anniversary of "news nation." time now for -- we have something planned. i don't know what. time now for a "news nation" gut check. first read compares the vice presidential debates to a baseball game saying, quote, after ace romney beat ace obama in game one, they're looking for biden to even score and republicans are looking to go 2-0. that's what's at stake thursday and that's why there's more pressure on biden than on ryan. that's what our first read team thinks. who's under more pressure? joe biden or paul ryan? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. and let's take a look at the news nation saying after yesterday's gut check. does the bird ad remind you of the president's weak debate issue or bring up romney budget cuts?

11% of you said obama's debate performance. 89% say, hey, big bird reminds you of romney budget cuts. tomorrow i'll be anchoring live from kentucky for the big vice presidential debate. some of my guests, oh, chris matthews. wow. big book there. former rnc chair steele and robinson. and salon.com's erin carmon. "the cycle" is up next. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card.

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